Coming Home
by CharmedOneForever
Summary: Oneshot. Set just before Season 1 Episode 1. Phoebe contemplates several events which first drove her to flee to New York but more importantly, dorve her to come home. R R!


A/N: A little plot bunny that refused to go unheard... Enjoy!

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><p>Leaning her head against the window, Phoebe let out a long sigh which caused the glass to fog up, obscuring her view of the urban landscape whizzing past in a swirl of colour. 6 months. That's how long it had been since she'd packed her bags and bid a welcome farewell to everyone she knew. 6 months since she'd dropped everything and walked away, caring little for the people she left behind, looking forward to running her own life and charting her own destiny. 6 months and here she was. Heading back to San Francisco with her tail between her legs.<p>

New York. That's where she'd fled when things became so overwhelmingly hard that she just couldn't face it anymore. Her Grandmother had died. Her only other living relative besides her two sisters, Prue and Piper. The woman who had raised the three of them since before Phoebe could remember. The matriarch of the family. Their rock. It hadn't been a shock; Grams had been ill for a long time; but still, when she died, a little piece of Phoebe died with her.

And then; when she was barely holding herself together as it was; her sister's fiancée had tried to attack her. Roger. Even now that slime ball's name made her shudder. From the moment Prue had introduced the two of them Phoebe had felt uneasy around him. The way he used to stare at her reminded her of a hungry lion staring at a piece of meat. Whenever they were alone together he'd flirt shamelessly, make lewd comments and not-so-subtle suggestions… Until Phoebe had snapped, told him to back off, that she wasn't interested and that if he didn't stop she'd tell Prue what he was doing.

He seemed to take the hint for a while. He left her alone at least. Until the night he'd called at the house looking for Prue and instead found Phoebe home alone. He'd tried to talk his way in and when Phoebe had tried to shut the door in his face, he'd forced his way in. They'd struggled, he'd overpowered her and had her backed up against the sofa with his hand pulling at the zip of her jeans. She'd struggled harder and they'd both fallen, Phoebe landing on top of him… Just as Prue had walked in. Roger had pushed Phoebe away roughly, claiming loudly that he wasn't interested in her and telling Prue how he'd been fighting Phoebe's advances for months. Phoebe had of course argued with him, telling Prue what had really happened. But to Phoebe's complete shock and disbelief, Prue had believed Roger and had angrily ordered Phoebe from the house.

That had basically destroyed what had already been a rocky relationship between the two of them. As soon as Grams' funeral was out of the way Phoebe had broken the news to her sisters that she'd had enough. She was leaving. Piper had been devastated. Prue had been… well, Prue.

Phoebe almost smiled as she remember the overwhelming sense of freedom when she had stepped off the bus in New York. A friend of a friend had promised to set her up with a small apartment and she already had a job lined up as a hostess in a nearby local hotspot, the Rainbow Room. Of course the feeling hadn't lasted long, she'd arrived at her 'new apartment' to find that there was already someone living there and they had no idea who she was. Apparently the landlord hadn't been let in on the plan to let Phoebe live there and had gone and moved in some new lodgers. Phoebe had tried contacting her friend but for one reason or another they hadn't answered the phone.

She'd wandered the streets for a couple of hours, dragging her suitcase behind her, her desperation growing by the minute. Just when she'd thought that she was going to have to admit defeat and head back to San Francisco she bumped into Clay.

She remembered how she'd been sitting on a bench watching the sky grow darker and seeing people starting to head back to their homes, the loneliness and despair building up inside of her until it was too much to take and she'd begun to cry. Great, wracking sobs that shook her shoulders and made it difficult to breath. Then she'd felt a hand on her shoulder and a tissue had been pressed into her hand. She'd looked up and through the tears she saw him for the first time. He'd sat next to her and rubbed her back soothingly until she was able to stop crying. She'd told him what had happened and that she had nowhere to stay. He'd offered her the sofa in his apartment to crash on. Part of her had screamed at her not to go with him. She didn't know him. He could be an axe murderer for all she knew. But she'd gone with him anyway.

Turned out that he wasn't an axe murderer at all. In fact he was a real gentleman to start with. He was a guitarist for a local band, performing small gigs around the city.

When they'd got back to his apartment, he'd let her camp out in his bedroom and had kindly taken the sofa instead saying that it would be 'cosy'.

The bus went over a bump in the road causing her to bang her head slightly against the glass. Frowning in discomfort, Phoebe shifted in her seat so that she was slumped down a little, staring at the ceiling. 6 months. She closed her eyes. It was amazing how much could change in such a short space of time.

It hadn't been long until her relationship with Clay had turned into more than just friendship. They'd bonded quickly and soon were sharing the bedroom. They were pretty content with life. She was doing well at her job and Clay wasn't doing too bad either. Sure he could be a little controlling at times but he was just trying to protect her.

It had been another couple of months before she found out about the scam he and his friends were running. Performing so-called 'charity' gigs but then pocketing the money raised afterwards. She'd been furious when she'd found out and they'd had a blazing row over it which had lasted hours. He'd said that he was only doing it for her, to try and look after her. She'd called him a thief and a liar. He'd hit her.

Phoebe pressed her fingers to her cheek, remembering the white-hot pain as he'd struck her, almost seeing the stars dance behind her eyelids again.

He'd been sorry afterwards. Said that it was just the heat of the moment. That he'd never do it again. He'd cried. Begging for her forgiveness. Pleading with her not to leave. She'd stayed. But of course, it wasn't the last time he'd hit her.

Phoebe closed her eyes as tears threatened to fall. She couldn't cry anymore. She was all cried out. How had it all gone so wrong?

Clay's scam had continued for months, pulling in money which he'd split between himself and his friends but not putting any towards the bills or food so that most of the time Phoebe found herself begging for advances at work, scared that they'd lose the apartment. It all came to a head when Clay secured a 'charity' show at Phoebe's work place. She'd begged him not to involve her but he'd angrily insisted once again that he was only doing this for her. Of course neither of them realised that it was the managers' policy to lock all proceeds made away in the safe until a representative of the chosen charity came to collect it. Clay had been furious. All the money they'd made and he couldn't get his hands on one cent of it. He'd blamed Phoebe of course. He was convinced that she's known about it.

And when the manager caught her trying to sneak some of the money out of the safe at work in an attempt to make Clay forgive her, she'd lost her job and only just escaped him calling the police. Luckily he'd taken pity on her frightened and tearful appearance and let her off with the sack.

Phoebe hadn't known how much trouble Clay had got himself into. He'd promised money to some pretty bad people and when the scam came to an end and he couldn't pay up someone broke into their apartment while they were out and torched the place. They managed to salvage a few things but the majority of their possessions were lost. Again, Phoebe got the blame. If she hadn't have lost her job they may still have had a chance to get the money. He cracked two of her ribs that night.

And lying on the floor of Clay's friend's apartment that night, hearing Clay snoring next to her, Phoebe had come to a decision. Stuck in an abusive relationship, in debt and with no home or job, she'd finally caved. She called Piper the next day and tearfully begged to be allowed home. She'd left out the worst of it, keeping the details to a bare minimum but it had been enough.

It had taken nearly two whole weeks but she'd finally worked up the courage to go for it. Pocketing the money from Clay's wallet and a small handful of cash she'd found in Clay's friend's drawer; she jumped on the first available bus to San Francisco.

And now here she was.

She blinked as the taxi pulled up in front of the manor. She'd been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed they were getting close.

She caught the taxi driver's eye in the wing mirror, "What's the damage?"

"$30"

"You're kidding me?" After getting a drink and a snack a few hours ago she only had loose change in her pocket.

"Hey, I have to make a living too."

Phoebe sighed and eyed the manor through the rain streaked glass. "Ok, I'll be right back." Opening the door and hefting her bag from the seat beside her she ran up the steps towards the front door of her family home. Lights blazed from inside and she could see silhouettes moving about through the frosted glass.

She took a shaky breath to steady her nerves. Could she really do this?

Reaching behind the plant pot to the left of the door, she almost smiled when her fingers curled around the familiar shape of the hidden spare key.

Sliding the key into the lock and opening the door was one of the single hardest things she'd done for a while, and as her sisters turned to face her she plastered a fake smile on her face. "Surprise! Found the hide-a-key!"

From the look on Prue's face she could tell that it wasn't going to be happy families anytime soon but it was better than the alternative. She didn't know if this was going to work out. But she was willing to give it a go. Who knew what the future might hold?

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><p>AN: I would really appreciate any reviews! Thanks guys!


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